megan's visit

Megan, aka my older sister, aka Schmee, finally came to visit! We've seen each other a lot over the last several months, but it just hadn't worked out yet for her to come here. It was driving us both insane. I've been bouncing house/decorating ideas off her since we bought this house (and vice versa since she bought a house last year too), but you can only look at so many photos and inspirational Pinterest boards before you have to just see everything in person. The free decorating help aside, I was really happy to spend a whole week with her. We haven't hung out just the two of us like that in ages.

Her visit came at the perfect time. I've made a renewed effort recently to focus on house projects. If decorating a house is like writing a novel, then the last few months have been one long slog of writer's block for me. I'm not very patient. I hate having to wait for inspiration and clarity, but I think the fog has finally lifted. I recently had a lightbulb moment, and I'm starting to see how everything is going to come together, which is good because I have 6 months until we host my family for Christmas. That seems like a long time, but my to-do list begs to differ. It won't all be done by then, of course, but I'm sure everyone would at least appreciate having a place to sleep.

Here is everything we managed to squeeze into one week.

We shopped for (and found) treasures at barn sales in Frederick, Maryland. I came home with this cute little dresser. I loved the shape of it, and at $150 its was a pretty great deal considering similar pieces are going for almost $700!

We went to a baseball game and the Nats finally broke their curse against the Braves. I think Megan is good luck.

baseball selfie!

We made a strawberry rhubarb pie. This  lil' baby attended a USA soccer watch party/BBQ with us, but the pie didn't make it home.

While I was at work one day, Megan cooked a delicious dinner of spring pea & asparagus lemon risotto. I didn't mind.

Since she made me dinner, I thought the least I could do was make her a Pimm's cup. I've been obsessed with Pimm's cup cocktails lately. They are the perfect refreshing drink for a warm summer evening.

We went to dinner at Roses' Luxury - one of our favorite new places in D.C. The food is swoon-worthy. If my waistline was no object, I would eat here every day.

gnocchi, a.k.a. tiny pillows of love

megan said this dessert tasted like a meadow. it turns out meadows are delicious. 

As if cooking dinner and schlepping to barn sales and home stores wasn't enough (I'm sure she really hated all the shopping), we made Megan earn her keep. This light fixture in our entry had to go. I've hated it from day one. It was way overdo for an upgrade. 

ugly old fixture

shiny new fixture

Luckily, Megan has experience in this department. She's hung a few fixtures in her house.

Not so luckily, hanging a new light fixture in an old house can be quite complicated.

But she was determined to finish what she started. She's a lot like Dad in that way. Again, I didn't mind. It was a bit of an adventure, but after 5 hours and 3 trips to the hardware store, we had achieved success. This is what homeowners do on a Friday night. If you don't already own a home, get excited.

hanging out in some natural light before we left for work this morning.
do you see the sheet of gold dots sitting on the chest (far right)?
they are leftover from the bathroom project,  and i have big plans for them.
and that chevron entry rug? i have big plans for that too.
and those two wallpaper samples hanging out in the dining room? yep, even more plans.
so many exciting things happening. stay tuned!

It was more than worth it! I love how it turned out! It's amazing what a difference a new light fixture can make. My excitement level over this light fixture officially means I'm old & home owner boring, but I don't care. The midcentury vibe of the fixture is perfect - it works in our old house while still remaining modern & playful. The brass fixture also plays off the brass drawer pulls & gold lamp on the chest. Hiding in the backdrop of the photo is our new fireplace screen, which adds even more shimmery warmth to the house. I love how the geometric shapes in the light fixture and fireplace screen complement each other.

One of the hardest parts of decorating is making things flow from room to room. When you walk into my house, you see into the entry, stairway, living room and dining room. Making sure all of those spaces blend well is a challenge, but I'm pretty thrilled with how it's coming together. It's making me anxious to finish with some other projects and ideas I've been pondering.

a closer look at the fireplace screen

One project done, one to go. Remember that dresser we bought? You didn't think we were going to leave it like that, did you? It was in pretty good shape, but it still needed a little TLC. But you'll have to come back tomorrow to see how it turned out. How rude of me.

We really put Megan to work. I feel a little bad about that. I'm not sure it was much of a vacation for her. But we did make sure to reward her helpful efforts in a big way. On her last night here, we took her to get her very first lobster roll. I felt like a parent introducing my kid to something new and wonderful. You'll have to ask her what she thought, but I don't think it disappointed. Lobster rarely does.

mmmmmmm, lobster

Thus ended the trip. I kind of miss her already. 

stripes, polka dots & presidents

I know I've been neglectful about showing before & after photos of the house. It's the perfectionist in me. I want the big reveal to be final, but after 5 months of living here (I can't believe it's been 5 months), not one room is complete. This bathroom isn't complete either, but it's pretty darn close, and I'm too excited about the progress we've made not to share it. 

We marked off President's Day weekend for project basement bathroom. It's a smaller guest bathroom that lacks sunlight and character. Here's what it looked like before:

Not terrible, but not great. The mustard-y paint color just didn't work in this sunless space. I also hated the hardware, wood toilet seat & switch plate. They all made the bathroom look more dated than it really is.

Phase one of this project was painting the bathroom a fresh coat of white (Oxford White by Benjamin Moore if you're curious). We hired a painter to do this a few months ago. Since then, it's sat bare, empty & sad. It was time to show this bathroom some love.

You'll notice we also ditched the wood toilet seat and switch plate. Better, and much brighter, but still pretty boring. When I chose to paint the bathroom white back in November, I had plans to add color eventually. Since then, I've gone back back and forth between polka dots and stripes. I finally settled on both. Always both. The colors were easier to pick. I wanted navy & gold. Navy because it's a great bathroom color, and I love the clean, crisp contrast of navy & white. Gold because it's fun, preppy & the perfect accent for navy & white. I wanted a nice blend of classic and playful.

So let's get to it. Phase 1 of this project took place on Saturday. It involved math, measuring and meticulousness. Jon and I don't excel at math, but we proved to be solid in the measuring department, and it's no secret that we're both pretty meticulous.

We lucked out because the walls were exactly 81" from ceiling to baseboard. That made for an easy calculation of nine 9" stripes. We wanted to do 5 navy stripes & 4 white stripes, but that complicated matters around the window well, and quite frankly, we didn't want to deal with taping off the ceiling & baseboard. So 5 white stripes & 4 navy stripes it was.

1. gather your supplies in the most haphazard way possible.

2. measure. and then measure again.

3. level, mark & tape

4. tape some more - we taped inside the lines we weren't painting.
 it seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how confusing it can get.

4. paint. painting over the tape with oxford white helped seal the tape & prevent the navy from bleeding through.

5. watch paint dry.

6. paint again. this time navy.

7. watch paint dry. again.

8. tear off tape (while holding your breath). admire your work. 

We have a few spots to touch up, but overall, we are pretty darn proud of ourselves. It's amazing how much impact you can make with 1 quart of paint (Benjamin Moore Hudson Bay 10% darker), and a little sweat equity. [Please excuse that untidiness below the window. We decided to ditch the piece of trim that was there, but we haven't had a chance to patch those holes yet.] Whew. Stripes down. Dots to go.

Today, we moved on to phase two. What better way to celebrate President's Day than with some gold polka dots? Gold seems very presidential. Polka dots, not so much. 

I ordered the 2" gold dots from Walls Need Love. They cost me less than $25, but they definitely make more than a $25 statement. This phase of the project also required the 3 Ms - math, measuring, meticulousness. 

The dots were a little more trial and error. We measured, leveled & marked the top center spot for each dot, but we still had to do a bit of eyeballing. Good thing I have 20/20 vision. ;)

1. throw some dots on your wall and hope they look ok. 

2. brandish the giant roll of dots while looking really excited about spending your day off adhering dots to a wall. 

3. add some more dots. 

4. keep adding dots.

5. when in doubt, eyeball it. 

6. add dots to the other wall. admire your work.

By the end of the weekend, our plain, boring bathroom was no longer plain or boring.

We still need to add new hardware and finish off the room with towels & accessories. We'd also like to eventually paint the vanity (navy) & trim (white) and replace the lighting. But, for now, I'm happy with the facelift. I'm affectionately calling it my Kate Spade bathroom. If you're familiar with that brand, of which I'm a big fan, you can probably tell why. :)

If You Can't Take The Heat...

...stay out of the kitchen, at least until the grout dries.

I'm not sure whose bright idea it was to buy a house, pack, move, paint, carpet, and kitchen remodel all in one month. I done lost my mind. I completely underestimated the amount of time and energy all of this would take on our end. Rookie mistake. It's basically a full-time job on top of our real full-time jobs. In no particular order, here's a status update and some general thoughts on this whole process. This probably isn't interesting at all, but I find it therapeutic so bear with me.

- The painters started yesterday. For the next few days, I'll probably only walk into the house with my eyes closed. I can think of few things more nerve-racking than your first glimpse at a new paint color. I'm not sure if it's better or worse to see it as you go (i.e. when painting yourself) or to rip the bandaid off and see the final result (i.e. when professional painters work while you aren't even there). You may remember that when Mom visited 2 weeks ago, we had a winner for the main paint color. In typical fashion, I changed my mind at the last minute. They hope to finish in 2-3 days so before/after shots and a full explanation of the paint choices should be coming soon (I know you can't wait).

- THERE ARE SO MANY DECISIONS. This is by far the worst part of home renovations for me. The little details are never-ending and ever time-consuming. Hardware, faucet, paint, carpet, switch plates, lighting, microwave, and on and on and on. All of these things have to be measured, counted, matched, ordered, purchased, etc. Should the grout be 1/16th of an inch or 1/8th? Should the border come out 2 inches or 4 inches? Where should one paint color stop and the other start? How far down should that light pendant hang? How big of a microwave can we fit in that space? I've spent more time in Home Depot or Lowe's over the last few weeks than in my previous 26 years combined.

- Sometimes you walk in and love everything, and sometimes you walk in and only notice the problems. Since I'm a little more in the glass half empty camp, I tend to side with the latter response. Our contractor has been fantastic to work with, and I'm grateful for that, but like all remodeling projects, something always goes wrong. He took it like a champ when I told him the newly installed and completely grouted backsplash needed to be redone (they laid it in a stacked pattern instead of a brick pattern).

It's starting to look like a completely different kitchen!

- The kitchen floor has been grouted (they ran out of pinwheel tile for the border so we had to wait for more to come in). We got a sneak peek of the floor last night, and I think it's going to look really fantastic. We had a brief moment of grout color panic until we realized that unlike paint, grout dries lighter. Whew. The cabinets are painted and re-installed, and the walls should be painted today or tomorrow. Now we are just waiting on the new backsplash tile, lighting fixtures and cabinet pulls to arrive so they can all be installed. If all goes well, they should be done this weekend or early next week.

- The grill and patio furniture arrive this Saturday. Hopefully we'll get to do some cleaning, gardening, and moving prep while we are hanging around the house waiting for deliveries.

- We are resigned to the fact that carpet won't be done before we move. The few pieces of furniture that go downstairs will just have to live in the garage for a little while. We've learned some interesting things about the carpet industry. Pretty much every carpet dealer private labels their carpets. This makes it impossible to shop around and/or compare prices. Sneaky, sneaky. We've been working with an independent installer that came recommended by friends. He brought some samples out for us to see at the house, but I didn't love any of them. Because of the private labeling, it would be nearly impossible for us to look around ourselves and just let him know what we want. Luckily he hooked us up with his wholesale supplier that is not generally open to the public. They've kindly agreed to let us stop by and look at all the options this Saturday morning.

- Last night we bought a new microwave so they can retrofit it to the existing space where the built-in microwave used to be. I would consider microwave shopping to be one of the more unenjoyable tasks to date.

So that's where we are. Moving day is 8 sleeps away, but I wouldn't know much about sleep these days.

Progress!

Mom's trip to D.C. could not have come at a better time. It was so helpful to have another set of eyes and another pair of hands. We got a lot done, but now I'm exhausted.

Best Mom ever. She packed several boxes
while I was at work on Friday.

We packed almost the entire apartment. It's paper plates & cups from here on out, but I'm so glad to have that massive chore behind us.

Fabric for the patio furniture

The grill and patio furniture are ordered and set for delivery. I'm so excited to finally have some outdoor space that I'd probably be happy to sit on the ground and eat takeout, but I think the new furniture and grill will be way more fun. Thanks for the housewarming gift, Mom & Dad!

Kitchen lighting, hardware, and faucet have also been ordered and should arrive later this week. Here is a peek of all the kitchen finishes so far. I'm still wavering on the paint color, but I think I've narrowed it down to 2 options. I really love the faucet. I read somewhere that hardware is like jewelry for a house. When you think of it like that, it was totally worth it to splurge on this pretty polished nickel faucet.

Kitchen paint samples
#2 - Hollingsworth Green
#7 - Thornton Sage

Last but not least, a paint color for the main part of the house was chosen! More on this later. I never want to look at paint samples again, but I still have to choose colors for the master bedroom and kitchen. Sigh.

We managed to have a little fun by eating good food at some of our favorite restaurants. Other than that it was all work...unless you consider making a million decisions fun. Mom and I probably enjoyed it more than Jon, but he was a trooper even when we had to start all over with the paint samples.

We are headed to Oklahoma this weekend to celebrate my sister's birthday and to properly warm their new house. I need a break, and thankfully we got so much done this weekend that I might actually be able to relax and enjoy myself.

[Notice Jon in the reflection of the window in this photo. I love how hard he is trying even though I'm pretty sure they all still look the same to him.]